Tates New Room!!

WARNING!!

THE FOLLOWING CONTENT IS NOT APPROVED FOR READERS UNDER

SAAAYY.. 10? 11?  

If you are lucky..12.

No.  Not 12. 

 Just 10, 11 or under.

DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU ARE UNDER 10.  or maybe 11.

I'm serious.

Anyways, 

Tatum got a new room from Santa for Christmas this year.

We were vveerry happy about this because Tatum's bedroom furniture is WAY to big for her little room.

So Santy set her up with a new smaller daybed..

With a trundle..

making it a king bed..

For those nights when Tatum is sure she is going to explode from not having

ANY ROOM AT ALLLL!!

(too bad trundles do not help spaces like, the back seat of a car & shared motel beds)

Sheesh.

Anyways.

Tatum was SO surprised!  And totally thrilled with her new room!

One of her first statements

"Oh my gosh mom!  Are you not so glad that Santa did this!  To save you all of the time and money!"

(see "brief stop in hell" on prior Christmas post)

But the thing with a 4th grader that is learning long division...

When 1+1 does not equal 2

Problems arise

Questions are asked

Minds are puzzled

and people are appropriately frazzeled!

AND SOMETIMES THEY BREAK!

And sometimes when that happens

the truth must set you free.

And sometimes the truth makes you cry for 2 or 3 hours.

Or again right now as you are typing this post.

It also ALMOST buys you a day off of school 

Ya know

Due to emotional distress and all.

But..

 So..

 with the help of this 

EXPLICIT link

 that IS NOT TO BE CLICKED ON BY THE 10 AND UNDER CROWD!

we had an unforgettable experience.

Slightly tramatic.

But unforgettable all the same.

"Life is not about learning to weather the storm

but instead learning to dance in the rain"

A quote which I love.. And try to remember in sooo many avenues of parenting.

And besides.  Tatum hates being late to any party

And she was SSUUPPPER late to this one.

Which really ticks her off.

..Is any one with me here?

Probably not..

If not.

pay me no mind..

And just enjoy the before, and after pictures of Tatum's new bedroom.

The Befores 

(as an afterthought)

courtesy of Mir.

Which is to say thanks!  Because I had a no thought to take pictures!

So thanks Mir!

And..

The Afters!

There are a few additions.

We have a darling cord cover for the ball light.

(also.. the ball light does not have a switch, and the outlet is behind the bed 

so we have this groovey little dohickey that has an adapter, that plugs into the outlet and then you plug it (the cord) into it (the adapter)

and then.

You have a remote that works it all.

Oh man.

I am really screwing this post huh?

But so what I am saying is.. 

If you are scared to come home to a dark house you can have a remote that turns on some lamps for you from outside of your house (with the remote!)  for the bargain price of 20!

Tates fish tank with new matchy matchy rocks sits on the table above. 

 All 5 of Tate's American Girl dolls are dressed in their original outfits, shoes,

and unders (don't look to close at Julie there.  She was having herself a wild Hawaiian vacay!)
and sitting on the shelves.

 The polka dots that you can see on the bottom right hand corner are now applied to the wall..

And..

Tatum has Tate A fied it.

Shoved as many notebooks, doo dads, and reading books into every nook and cranny she can find.

 She is really loving it, 

keeping it much cleaner, 

and mostly being able to enjoy extra down time in there.

All in all.. 

I'm glad we  he did it.

We learned a lot from this experience..

Boy did we!!!!

We don't necessarily need to put down in writing though.

We are approaching birthday season in our house, 

and the last thing I need is for my ulcer to start acting up!

(i don't have an ulcer)

But so.

If you ever see me in person.  Be sure to ask for the full story.

It is a doozy.

CHRISTMAS 2011

Lets get this party started shall we?

December wrap up.

Thank goodness.  I mean really.  

One of these years, I really am going to slow down

and enjoy the magic simplicity of this holiday.

But today.  Today I feel good to say 

GOOD RIDDANCE DECEMBER

DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YA!

Here is the rundown of our month as it unfolded..

Our Auntie Taylor came home from BYU Hawaii for a Christmas visit!!

Me, Tate, and Devy picked her up from the airport (late)

with monkeybread (cold)

honking and hanging out the windows screaming the whole way down the airport driveway thingy.

(tacky)

And then, our cute lil fam went and spent some time at the temple.

It was very lovely.

And at times irreverent.

Tatum and Jack were playing 

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROPES.

We got crazy that night.

While the temple at Christmas is so beautiful

I much prefer a quiet Sunday afternoon, when you can take time to read all there is to read

and see all there is to see, and be able to drink in the spirit the of those sacred grounds 

without having to share it with one bajillion people.

Just my opinion.

PS. 

 A handwarmer to the nose is a brilliant idea that prolongs cold nights of Christmas light perusing.

(see tatum)

Later in the week we headed to Cedar to spend some time with our family there.

Santa surprised us at our family Christmas party.

He was a huge hit.  

5 out of 5 of our family babies totally dug him. (lie)

Payton and McCoy are not pictured because their encounter with Santa was faster than my shutter

But we still had a good time. 

Left to Right

McCoy, Jeni, Franki, and Hadleigh

Grandpa Larry Grandpa Steven (even sober people have got to love the hat. Ya?) Grandma Kay.

 Mir.  

I try hard not to post pictures of Miranda on my blog.

She is so homely that I don't want other people to feel bad for me for having such a sorry sister.

(lie)

Beacham Crew.

(minus a some Jason babes (sad), some texans (sad), a granny (sad)
and for sure some that I have forgotten. (sad))

But all in all

A really great time!!

Christmas Morning!!

.Tatum Kay.

. Jack Ryan.

3 joyful pictures.

1. I Pad 2.  (what are your favorite apps?) 

2. The biggest Christmas tree EVER!! (and my Mamas cute Christmas head)

3. Homely Mir eating Christmas breakfast.  (who has such a tiny waist, and plump rump?) Brat.

JackJack Kisses. (sweet for me, painful for Mir)

(and the HUGE brand new freckle on my hairline. Thanks pregnancy) (gross)

Last but certainly not least! 

Beaver Christmas! (hi Mel!!)

Beaver aminals. (!!)

Beaver foodies (delish!)

Beaver family! (love)

Beaver poses (precious?) 

And and and. Beaver stockings. (Ryan's favorite)

Ya.  precious. 

All of it.

Well.

There ya go.

Our Christmas in pictures.

Except for all of the pictures that I didn't take because I always forget my camera.

(sorry Logan fam.  I love you guys just as much!)

And for the books.

Don't start writing about your magical Christmas blog while watching Greys Anatomy.

Because your keyboard will get all soggy and snotty and you simply will not be able to go on.

It is my own little Christmas miracle that Meridith and Derek made up, and got Zola back though.

I was gettin worried.

Onward and Upward.

Bring on 2012

(but let's skip over the world ending this year. K?)

Hap Hap Happy Holidays!

Holy Cow.

We have been super busy the last 2 weeks.

Just us.  Huh?  Nobody else has been at all busy this month. Huh?

I just imported 283 new photos.

That means we have AAAA LLLOOOOTT  to catch up on around here.

But just know

We've been to 

Wal Mart

Logan

Lehi

Salt Lake

Lehi

The Mall

The Wal Mart 

The Bank

The Costco

The Neighbors x 15

The Down East Home

The Smiths

The Wal Mart

The Costco

The Lehi

The Mall

The Temple

The Wal Mart

The Lehi

A brief stop in Hell

Salt Lake

The Doctors Office

The Home Depot

The Lehi

The Cedar City

The Market Grill

The Aunts house

The Wal Greens

The Beaver

The Lehi

The Cedar City

The Cousins House

The Wal Mart

The Movie

The Pizza Factory

and now

We are back in 

The Lehi

And this is how we are all feeling about it.

Grumpy

Dirty

Exhausted

Trying our damnedest not to make eye contact

And

 Smelling like peanut butter.

Well discuss all of our adventures when we get ourselves pulled together a little.

But we sure do hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and wish everyone

THE VERY BEST NEW YEAR EVER!!

Dancin Dancin

On Monday night I had the devastatingly emotional pleasure of attending my

little Tater Skater's first ever dance recital.

(well, not the VERY first, but ages 1-3 can hardly be considered dancing.  

no matter what angle you look at it.)

We just got her back into dancing at Showcase USA this past August.

She is doing so well!  

They teach confidence, singing, dancing, self assurance, friendship, hard work, dedication and anythingelsepositiveyoucanthinkof.  

We love it!  It is very great.

Please with these cheekbones Tatum!

Please!

Stop getting so old and beautiful.

But, while we are on the subject.

You are welcome.

i kid, i kid.

Come on though.  Knock out.

I wish I could blame my emotional messness on postpartum hormones and such.

But the truth of the matter is, I quit nursing 5 months ago, and so one can assume I am normal?

BUT

 I'm not entirely sure why I cried my eyes out:

on the opening number

on the Silent Night number

on the little (non dancing) baby girl numbers

on the sign language number

when they gave the dance company owner and her husband a present

AANNNNDD...

 when on the last dance, the pretty senior girl did a solo because it was her last Christmas performance with  The Showcase USA, and after she finished the rest of the big girls dog piled her.

Now

Why would that make me cry?

I don't know that pretty senior girl.

But anyhow,

It was a magical night.

I love the spirit of Christmas.  

It seems like everything has just a little glimmer of magic in it. Ya?

 I was so so proud of my lovely little babe.

She did a great job.

She is really coming along nicely.

And after a mommy/baby ice cream date

we were so thrilled to come home and find Cinnamon waiting for us.

  I am also thrilled to not know how to work my camera.

But, are you as pleased as I am as to how clearly the ornaments on my tree turned out for this pic?

I show love through food.

So.  

I show my love through food.

I know I have mentioned that I am not much of a domestic-istist.

And I'm not.

But I can create a spread.

Because I like food.

And I can follow a recipe.

But like, if I were on Iron Chef America I would just end up in the fetal position after the secret ingredient was revealed. 

 For sure.

But anyways.

I love food.  It's really unfortunate.  

But did you hear? There are actually 6 languages of love.

Words of Affirmation

Quality Time

Receiving Gifts

Acts of Service

Physical Touch 

and the redheaded step child

Food Giving.

It's your birthday?  

Let me make you some monkey bread for breakfast, 

A special smiley face sandwich for lunch,

and your favorite Cafe Rio pork burritos for dinner.

A holiday?

We better decorate the kitchen with tacky crape paper

and make food colored, special shaped pancakes.

You had a bad day at work?

I'm going to make a new special soup that warms souls on bad days at work.

Other girls were mean at school?

Lets head down to the JCW's for an expensive shake.  

That should band aid those mean girl wounds.

Sick?

Chicken noodle soup.  Absolutely.

(with homemade mashed potatoes, some fresh french bread, and maybe cheesecake?)

I was a crazy screaming maniac this morning because you absolutely cannot change the speed of which you put on your shoes and brush your teeth no matter how many times I scream that if you miss the bus you are really going to have to walk to school this time!!?

Surely you can expect some phenomenal  funfetti cupcakes waiting for you when you get home from school.  Peace offering.

Family night?

Usually some form of enchilada.

Oh. Ryan wants to invite a few friends over for dinner?

Surely I better spend at least a Benjamin at the Smiths to make sure they still like us when they leave.

Ryan would take a plate of nachos over any of this nonsense.

Spending money on food makes him crazy.  

And Tatum would be just fine with pretzel gold fish, and some string cheese.

Nobody likes me, everybody hates me.

But. But. But.

Last weekend, we had Tatum a little Christmas bash.

And those girls.

They appreciated my love language.

See.Watch.

See?  Yay me!

The only thing is
I didn't plan anything else for this shindig.
hmmph.
I mean, party. food. party. food. party. food.
Is there anything else at a good party?
That my friends is in the eye of the beholder.
April beholds party. food. party. food. party. food.
I stand by the food table and wait for people to come talk to me there.
I always have a good time.  Try it.

Good thing the girls were more than happy to Beiberize our party all on their own.
When your 10 you behold this.
Beiber. food. beiber. food. beiber. food.
I'm getting all silly with this Beiberbusiness.
But, he's a party of our family, and not to be ignored.

And ps. DO NOT ASSUME THAT MY CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN IS ANYTHING BUT PERFECT.
I damn near went into cardiac arrest okay.

Beiber Dance Party.

Watching the Beiber Macy's commercial.
Look at the joy.
They watched it at least 5 times
I'm not kidding.

At least they had fun!
:)

I LOVE THE HOLIDAYS!
and food.

So Cliche

JackJack never cries when strangers hold him..

Except for this exceptionally strange stranger I guess.

He was not having it.  

Really.

I was certain that JackJack was going to freak his freak right out of Santa's arms.

Doesn't it look like he is going to do a fish flip right out of his arms?

I thought it did.  I was worried.

Welp.

Happy Holidays!  

They are upon us

I am giddy.

Let's wrap up 2010 shall we?

I'm going to make this quick okay? 

Lots of pictures, quick captions.

Promise.

Tate got bangs.

She despises them.

This is at her school Christmas concert with her two besties

Rylie and Abbi..

PS.. The kids were supposed to wear red or white for the concert.

Tate was supposed to take off her grey sweater during her concert.

Apparently, don't boss Tatum around...

 Tate got the worlds worst cold/flu/dangerous ear infection

 and stayed home from school for almost a week.

This scene was all over my house.

Jasmine (dressed in J's clothes)

Tissues.

Book.

Even snot covered scenes like this make my heart happy.

Honestly.  Kids are the best.

 We baked and baked and baked.

We made these for Ry's Co workers & Tates bus driver.

 Finished product..

Disclaimer... We did not make these treats while Tatum was sick..

I don't think....

 I had a fun holiday dinner with my girlfriends,

who I don't talk about near enough, but love with all of my heart.

Tiff, April, Billee, Lisa, Melanie, Stephanie.

 Eric & Hayley took Tatum to a HER families Christmas party,

and brought Tatum's white elephant gift of 2 gold fish back to OUR house.

Thanks guys! 

 So, we went and bought a fish tank to appropriately accommodate

Coopsey and La La.

We have since added Zoro, Spencer, Bluey, Goldy, and Pe Pe.

We now need a bigger tank.

Sheesh.

 Christmas Eve Fondue

PS.. It was the cheese fondue that invited the beer to our family party.

Not me.
But, I did invite Steven, who also invited beer.. So its really neither here nor there....

 Mom Bawling over her I Pad

 Me showing off my jammies, and apron

 Ry's new fossil watch

 Tates newest American Girl Doll

 Mirs new coat

 Chocolate Fondue

 Mir, Tate, Ry & Steven eating above shown chocolate fondue.

So, I understand that was a sorry ode to Christmas..

The thing is, Tatum was with Eric this year for Christmas, which just kind of makes it all around suck.

All of these pics are on Christmas Eve which is when we celebrated.

We actually had a wonderful time, and it was so so great that mom, Steve and Mir were able to drive up at the last minute.  They came Christmas eve, and left early Christmas morning.  

Eric and Hayley picked Tatum up at about 9:00 on Christmas Eve.. Sad..

Its sucks not living near your family during the holidays.

It sucks sharing your baby on Christmas morning.

All in all, everything considered, we are more than blessed, 

and had a great great holiday!

Plus.. Christmas seems like so long ago at this point, that
 I just want to move ahead to Jacks room and my birthday.

Bye.

Cinnamon Came Back!!

And thank goodness she did!

She was all Tatum wanted for Christmas! 

It was all she could talk about, or think about starting at about Thanksgiving.

She was very worried that maybe she wouldn't show up.

I was confident she would, seeing as how Tate had been such an absolute angel while I have been so sick and pregnant.

All she could think about was the time at Del Taco when she murmured something sassy at worker through the window speaker.

Sure enough, she showed up.

Here are just a few of the funny things she pulled during her stay...

 One night she set out a picnic for herself and Tate

 Made a "winter wonderland" throughout our house.

Thanks Cinny.. 

Please don't mind the dust on top of my armoire.

Its gone now okay?

 And last, but not least.... 

She stole Ryan's truck, and took it to Maverick for doughnuts!!

What the?!

Tatum was more than panicked when she opened the front door and saw his truck parked all crazy in the drive way!

You see, I was at my pregnant wits end with Cinnamon's antics and cleaning up after her!! 

Tatum was worried that I was going to make her go home!

:)

Don't you worry.

I didn't make Cinny go home.  I let her stay until Christmas Eve just like she had promised.

Cinnamon comes for the 12 days before Christmas.  

She brings so much magic and joy into our home for these 12 days.

The only draw back is that Christmas Eve is a serious double edged sword for my little princess.

Santa is coming and bringing toys, but he is taking Cinny.

It really makes Tatum a little chaotic.

We are hoping that once Cinnamon retires from making tea sets, she can come and live with us.

Here's hoping!